Architecture

Architecture

‘Every great architect is – necessarily – a great poet. He must be a great original interpreter of his time, his day, his age.’ -Frank Lloyd Wright

Architects design buildings and other structures. In addition to considering the way these buildings and structures look, they also make sure they are functional, safe, and economical and suit the needs of the people who use them. Working primarily in the construction industry, architects are involved with designing new buildings, extensions or alterations to existing buildings, or advising on the restoration and conservation of old properties.

They can work on individual buildings or on large redevelopment schemes, and can be responsible for the design of the surrounding landscape and spaces.

The role of an architect is very varied and can range from freelance and small-scale project work to employment with multinational organizations working on iconic landmark.

1. Careers

Architectural Designers

Building Design

Building Architects are professionals who are involved in designing houses as well as different kinds of buildings. They perform various jobs such as designing light-frame family homes, agricultural buildings, Malls, Commercial building, hotels etc. Other possibilities for architecture designers may include designing of decorative facades for big to small sized buildings.

Landscape Design

Landscape architecture is a multidisciplinary field, incorporating aspects of botany, horticulture, fine arts, architecture, industrial design, geology, earth sciences, environmental psychology, geography, and ecology. The activities of a landscape architect can range from the creation of public parks and parkways to site planning for campuses and corporate office parks, managing of large wilderness areas or reclamation of degraded landscapes such as mines or landfills.

Sports / Stadium Architecture

Sport architecture involves design, aesthetics, game regulations and public convenience. It is impacted by standardization of space and design as contemporary sport architecture has to follow specifically sport regulations for playground space. Designing of Golf Courses, cricket and hockey stadiums are some of the areas that require sports architects.

Acoustics Design

Architectural acoustics is defined as the science of controlling sound within a space, from grand concert halls to living rooms. Architectural acoustics can be about achieving good speech intelligibility in a theater, restaurant or railway station, enhancing the quality of music in a concert hall or recording studio, or suppressing noise to make offices and homes more productive and pleasant places to work and live in.

Environment and Sustainability

Sustainable architecture is architecture that seeks to minimize the negative environmental impact of buildings by efficiency and moderation in the use of materials, energy, and development space. Sustainable architecture uses a conscious approach to energy and ecological conservation in the design of the built environment. Green Buildings that are energy smart are now being consciously demanded by corporate organization, increasing the demand for architects in this field.

Urban Planner

Urban Planning is a discipline, which synthesizes inputs from various disciplines into an integrated plan of action for urban spaces. It helps shape the natural and built environment in order to achieve a desirable quality of life in urban areas by keeping the resource constraints in view.

Naval Architect

Naval architecture also known as Naval engineering: an engineering discipline dealing with the design, construction, maintenance and operation of marine vessels and structures. Preliminary design of the vessel, its detailed design, construction, trials, operation and maintenance, launching and dry-docking are the main activities involved. Ship design calculations are also required for ships being modified: by means of conversion, rebuilding, modernization, or repair. Naval architecture also involves formulation of safety regulations and damage control rules and the approval and certification of ship designs to meet statutory and non-statutory requirements.

Historian

Architectural historians help to restore and preserve historical buildings. They can work for culture preservation organizations, government heritage agencies, museums, private organizations and public planning boards. These professionals are usually conservators, curators and museum technicians. They may specialize in preserving architectural material, conducting historical tours of buildings, research or fundraising activities.

Career as a Historian can be in the any of the above domains.

Teaching: Curriculum Development and Instruction

Architecture teachers are responsible for educating students on the principles and fundamentals of architecture, including architectural design concepts and the history of the field. The teachers create lesson plans, deliver lectures and evaluate the work of students in a classroom setting. They are required to keep office hours for students, in order to advise them and help them with any problems in class. Some architecture teachers conduct research in this field and publish any findings in journals or books. Most architecture teachers are expected to keep current on trends and methodology, even if they do not design themselves.

Architecture & Journalism

Architectural Journalist

Architecture journalism involves reporting the new advances in the architectural world, existing unknown and hidden facts and interesting concepts of buildings, innovative designs. In short documenting anything related to architecture can be termed as architecture journalism. The various articles we read in design magazines about the buildings, space planning, reporting architectural conferences, reporting about various architectural colleges, new architects etc, all fall under this category.

Magazine Editor of Architecture and design Magazines

This career path brings together writing skills and knowledge of architecture, design and aesthetics. As an editor or contributor to the team, you would be writing about architecture, interior design, crafts, product and graphic design and urban planning.

Architectural Conservation and Heritage

Architectural conservation deals with issues of prolonging the life and integrity of architectural character and integrity, such as form and style, and/or its constituent materials, such as stone, brick, glass, metal, and wood. In this sense, the term refers to the “professional use of a combination of science, art, craft, and technology as a preservation tool and is allied with – and often equated to – its parent fields, of historic environment conservation and art conservation.

2. Academic Steps

Eligibility

Most of the Architecture colleges in India offer courses in Architecture at undergraduate (bachelors) level. Students who have opted for Mathematics at +2 level are eligible.

Entrance Exams:

-B.Arch is a 5 year UG course in Architecture offered in many colleges in India. The candidates are taken in after clearing National or State level Entrance Examinations. -The CBSE board carries out a national level entrance examination that is called the Joint Entrance Examination for the admission to UG programs in B. Architecture and B. Planning. The examination consists of Basic Math’s, a Drawing test and an Aptitude Test. -In India there are other entrance exams also, like the National Aptitude test in Architecture (NATA) and several state entrance tests. -Most of the private institutes carry out their own entrance exams.

Exam Pattern

The Joint Entrance Exam (JEE) paper is objective in nature. For aspiring Architecture Graduates, a drawing test along with aptitude test is given. Students who are preparing to appear for the NATA must ensure that they brush up their drawing skills. The division of the paper is given below: · Aesthetic Sensitivity test: This is a test carried out online as to identify the visualizing as well as analytical skills of the applicants. · Drawing Test: 2 hours of the examination will be provided solely for the Drawing test.

High Education

After completing graduation or during the time of graduation in Architecture, candidates can do an internship program either with some practicing architects or with an architecture firm to gain practical experience and better up job prospects. This can be followed with a M Arch degree.

3. Scope of Career

Prospects

Construction and Engineering companies may engage architects where they would serve as a designers. Initially an architect is expected to understand specific requirements of clients and strike a right balance between aesthetics and practicality. Additionally, an architect with skills can help clients by his ideas in terms of balancing the requirements of appearance, financial budget and time frame. Some architects even work independently and earn their livelihood through consultancy fees that entirely depends upon the skills and profile as well as work experience. Most of the jobs in architecture come up in government organizations such as Public Works Department, the Archaeological Department, Ministry of Defense, National Building Organization, Town and Country Planning Organization, National Institute of Urban Affairs, Departments of Railways, Post and Telegraphs, Public Sector Undertakings, Housing and Urban Development Corporation, National Building Construction Corporation Ltd., etc. While some other organizations or bodies like State Departments, Housing Boards, Local Bodies for construction works, Builders, Architecture Firms, Consultants, etc. also hire architects.

Architects working independently have ample scope in terms of earning. However, the inherent hazard with independent practice is that the professional undergoes lots of work as he alone has to plan details of sizes, specification and estimates of the cost of the structure, etc. Moreover, he require good models and graphics as there would not be any other person to assist him which is the case when he works with some construction company. Specialization works well for better prospects in architecture, as it is a matter of requirement.

Salary

Starting salary for an Architect can be in the range of INR 20,000 to 30,000 depending on specialization, employer and college graduated from. Candidates with work experience of more than 5 years can earn salary in the range of INR 50,000 to 60,000. According to some sources, the demand for architects is expected to increase in next couple of decades as India is going to allow FDI in real estate sector.

The above numbers reflect the industry standard and salaries, but the ultimate pay package depends on individual talent and capabilities.

Consultancy and Independent Architects

As an independent architect whether consulting with companies or free lancing for projects, the remuneration varies on the project size and creative element. An experienced professional may well be able to demand higher pay packages.

4. Information on Colleges

Given Below are some of the more reputed colleges in India (not in rank or order)

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